Author Topic: The Dowdle family from Westport, Mayo  (Read 13140 times)

Offline James Dowdle

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Re: The Dowdle family from Westport, Mayo
« Reply #9 on: Wednesday 17 September 14 21:37 BST (UK) »
Hi, John - Yes, Henry is a favorite name down the line.  I told you about Patrick Henry Dowdle from Westport.  His middle son (of 3), born in Chorlton-Upon-Medlock, Manchester was named Patrick Henry (he was my great-grandfather).  He had 5 boys (and 3 girls).  One of the boys was named Patrick John (my grandpa) and another Henry Lawrence.  Grandpa Dowdle had 3 boys - his middle son, Henry Daniel, is my father. 
Keep in touch.

Offline John G Haslam

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Re: The Dowdle family from Westport, Mayo
« Reply #10 on: Thursday 18 September 14 10:23 BST (UK) »
Hi James,

That is very interesting.  My line goes through William Dowdle through his son William Henry who ran a pub in Chorlton (possibly the Bulls Head on Granby Row) between 1901 and 1911.  William Henry died quite young at 37 and the family had to move as the licence holder had to be male. 

William Henry was married to Annie Birmingham and they had seven children including my Grandmother, Annie Dowdle.  The family eventually moved to Bolton, Lancashire where I was born. 

I checked through the available census records for Westport and there were no Dowdle names recorded so I suspect all the younger Dowdles left the area, in the aftermath of the Potato Famine, with many arriving in Manchester.  The area around Chorlton was known as Little Ireland due to the high number of Irish immigrants living there.

We are probably distant relatives so its great to hear from you James and to hear your story.  I will post again when something new pops up.

Best Wishes

John  :)



Aspinwall (Barton), Banks (Standish), Birmingham (Manchester and Ireland), Broardman (Bolton), Cunningham (Manchester and Ireland), Dowdle (Manchester and Ireland), Farnworth (Bolton), Finch (Wigan), Frith (Standish), Grundy (Bolton), Haslam (Bolton), Humphrey (Bolton), Nuttall (Bolton), Ogden (Barton), Pemberton (Manchester), Pepper (Barton), Poland (Manchester), Rigby (Bolton and Salford), Smethurst (Bolton), Walkden (Bolton), Walsh (Bolton), Warmsley (Manchester), Willcock (Barton), Winnard.

Offline CathP49

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Re: The Dowdle family from Westport, Mayo
« Reply #11 on: Saturday 27 June 15 23:24 BST (UK) »
Hello other descendants of Dowdles from Westport, Mayo. I think I am connected to the same families (probably). My Great grandfather was Patrick Dowdle born in Sunderland, 1875. He also had a brother called Henry. Their father was called Patrick Dowdle (and his father was Henry - from marriage certificate) and he was born around 1849 in Ireland. This is from the 1881 census record from Hartlepool. I had trouble tracing Patrick but did find more on his brother (I'm assuming brother but could have been cousin - they lived next to each other in 1881 Hartlepool) Henry Dowdle, born in about 1851 in Westport. Now I know that this Henry's mother was called Sarah Dunbar (mentioned earlier) as this is on his Scottish marriage certificate. I had wondered if Henry and Patrick had different mothers. All this family seem to have had the names Henry and Patrick.
This is where it gets a bit confusing: Although I could not find Patrick Dowdle's birth  I'm sure he was born in Westport (Oughaval Parish) Co. Mayo.
His brother Henry was born there in 1851.
The fact that Patrick's (my grt grt grandfather) 2 sons (Henry & Patrick) were sent to live with his cousin in Glasgow when they were children leads me to believe it is right (Scotland 1881 census). The cousins were Patrick McDonnell and Anne McDonnell. By tracing the McDonnell's oldest daughter's baptism record I have found the mother was called Anne Fox before marriage. One sponsor for Henry Dowdle's baptism, in Westport, was Catherine Fox (maybe sisters). Families obviously connected.
I think all these Dowdles from Westport, Mayo (also called Oughaval) must be related. The only way to know for sure would be for some male Dowdles to take a DNA test. I have more info on some of these. 
Does any of this sound like it might be the same family. Sometimes it's hard to know if people you are searching are brothers/cousins/uncles - but still family.
Catherine       

Offline John G Haslam

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Re: The Dowdle family from Westport, Mayo
« Reply #12 on: Sunday 28 June 15 14:32 BST (UK) »
Hello Catherine,

This sounds like the same family.  I know of four children of Sarah Dunbar and Henry Dowdle.

Catherine, born around 1836/1840.
William, born 1845.
Henry, born 1851.
Sarah, born 1853.

I have only seen the baptism records for the last two and there are probably more including Patrick.

Catherine and William moved to Manchester with their Uncle, John Dowdle.  I have discovered from William Dowdle's Wedding certificate that his father Henry Dowdle was a Hatter.

I have not been able to trace the movements of Henry and Sarah until Henry turns up in the 1911 census record as an inmate at the County Gaol and Convicts Prison in Maidstone, Kent.  It states on the record that he is a Widower and a Riveter of Ship's Plate and that he was born in Westport in 1851.

Best Wishes,

John  :)
Aspinwall (Barton), Banks (Standish), Birmingham (Manchester and Ireland), Broardman (Bolton), Cunningham (Manchester and Ireland), Dowdle (Manchester and Ireland), Farnworth (Bolton), Finch (Wigan), Frith (Standish), Grundy (Bolton), Haslam (Bolton), Humphrey (Bolton), Nuttall (Bolton), Ogden (Barton), Pemberton (Manchester), Pepper (Barton), Poland (Manchester), Rigby (Bolton and Salford), Smethurst (Bolton), Walkden (Bolton), Walsh (Bolton), Warmsley (Manchester), Willcock (Barton), Winnard.


Offline Catherine P

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Re: The Dowdle family from Westport, Mayo
« Reply #13 on: Friday 24 July 15 16:05 BST (UK) »
John
Just pent about 30 mins writing a huge reply to you. It disappeared when I went to preview it. :(  Will try to write it again another time. Mainly wanted to mention Henry Dowdle in prison - have more info. Will repost it all another day. No time now.
Cath

Offline Catherine P

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Re: The Dowdle family from Westport, Mayo
« Reply #14 on: Thursday 01 October 15 16:17 BST (UK) »
Family concerns (and holidays) kept me away from continuing my reply from earlier in the year. Re Henry Dowdle who was in prison on the 1911 census. I researched this further through the British newspaper archives. There was some sort of special deal on with the subscription so I did a search of newspaper articles for the UK. It seems that Henry Dowdle was in prison for the murder of his wife Ann. The murder took place in Barry Island, Wales, where the couple were living. It seems they moved around a lot. I know for a fact that they lived in: Glasgow, Hartlepool, Jarrow and eventually Barry Island. Neighbours reported the couple as being unhappily married and reported frequent quarrels. He was a heavy drinker/drunk.
Horrible story yet it is the one that made the connection to Westport for me. The news story was reported in various newspapers all over the country e.g. Dundee Courier, Manchester Courier in March 1906 - if you want to trace it. I have not managed to find any descendants of this family although they had several children including a son Peter. There was a Peter Dowdle in the navy during WW 1 and I wondered if it was their son Peter.
 I would love to get a family tree of all the descendants of this Dowdle family from Westport. Mention is made of some of them arriving in the Manchester area. they also lived in Glasgow, Hartlepool, Sunderland and other places. These men worked in the ship building industry - as unskilled labour.
I have about 23 first cousins on my Dowdle side from my grandfather Henry Dowdle.  he had seven siblings so quite a few descendants there although I believe they are mostly scattered across England and Scotland. I'm from England but now live in Canada and I have made contact with a cousin of my mum's who lives in Australia. I don't know if we are allowed to connect other than on this site. I do have a gmail email address. the first part is my first name with the addition of the letters mp and the number 16. So - if you email - just put Dowdle in the message - so I don't delete it. Would love to get a more extensive family tree of this family. Not sure why some of them are not on the baptismal records from the parish. Perhaps the older siblings were born elsewhere - especially if their father ended up having two wives which has been suggested. I think I will peruse the records again now that the National Library of Ireland has put all their catholic records online. They are not easy to search as the writing is often almost illegible and there are gaps and some entries so faded you can't read them.
Happy ancestor hunting...
Catherine
PS - just looking again at your info on the family with Catherine, William, Henry and Sarah. Do you think it could have been like this:
Catherine born 1836/1840
William born 1845
Patrick (my ancestor) born c 1849
Henry born 1851
Sarah born 1853

It's always possible that my Patrick Dowdle was a cousin and not a sibling He was certainly connected to Henry Dowdle (1851) from Westport> Think I'll try to go through the records from Westport this winter (don't usually spend much time on genealogy in the summer) and make note of every Dowdle and their connections. Maybe I'll be able to post it somewhere.

Offline John G Haslam

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Re: The Dowdle family from Westport, Mayo
« Reply #15 on: Saturday 03 October 15 11:24 BST (UK) »
Hello Catherine,

Thank you for your post.  Henry Dowdle's story is very interesting, it seems we have a black sheep!

Patrick Dowdle, born c 1849 does fit in neatly with the other family members and It is very possible that Sarah Dunbar was Henry Dowdle's second wife and the mother of the last two children only (Henry and Sarah).

From my research, it is clear the Dowdle family were devout Catholics and, therefore, the other children would have been baptised, probably in the Westport area.  I have searched through many sources for baptism records without success.  I will try again this winter as I feel these missing records are the key for further progress..

I do not have any other information beyond what has been discussed on this thread.  If we continue to document our findings here, then perhaps we may attract the attention of other contributors from the wider Dowdle family.

Best Wishes,

John  :)

 
Aspinwall (Barton), Banks (Standish), Birmingham (Manchester and Ireland), Broardman (Bolton), Cunningham (Manchester and Ireland), Dowdle (Manchester and Ireland), Farnworth (Bolton), Finch (Wigan), Frith (Standish), Grundy (Bolton), Haslam (Bolton), Humphrey (Bolton), Nuttall (Bolton), Ogden (Barton), Pemberton (Manchester), Pepper (Barton), Poland (Manchester), Rigby (Bolton and Salford), Smethurst (Bolton), Walkden (Bolton), Walsh (Bolton), Warmsley (Manchester), Willcock (Barton), Winnard.

Offline James Dowdle

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Re: The Dowdle family from Westport, Mayo
« Reply #16 on: Monday 14 March 16 20:43 GMT (UK) »
Hi, John (& Cath P) - I have been absent for a while because I haven't done much.  I have started putting this all down on paper now.  All of these blogs are so amazing, because I am convinced that we are all related.  John, I was wondering if you've looked any further into the relationship into the Williams you know and my GG Grandfather, Patrick Henry (b. around 1825 in/near Westport, Co. Mayo, married 1/27/1850 in Westport, to Ann Hughes, and died circa 1858, buried in Aughavall Cemetery in Westport).  I am convinced your Williams were uncle and/or brother.  Patrick and Ann left Ireland right after getting married and had 3 boys in Manchester - you already know this.  I don't know where their eldest John's name came from.  But middle son was Patrick Henry (dad's namesake) and the 3rd and youngest child was William!  The names John - Patrick - Henry all stayed in my family (my own middle name is Henry).  Cath P - FYI after Patrick died, Ann buried him in Westport.  She and the boys traveled to the U.S., and settled in Chicago in the house where I was eventually born.  They are all buried at Calvary Cemetery in Evanston IL.  I have all the information on that Dowdle grouping from Westport.  Also FYI for you and other interested Dowdles, I have submitted a DNA sample and am waiting for the results.  Not sure if that will shed light or not.  Please stay in touch.

Offline hallmark

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Re: The Dowdle family from Westport, Mayo
« Reply #17 on: Monday 14 March 16 20:51 GMT (UK) »
Give a man a record and you feed him for a day.
Teach a man to research, and you feed him for a lifetime.